Tony Wilson honoured with an MBE

A Cuckfield man who led a £135 million project to extend the British Museum, and create state of the art research facilities, has been rewarded with an MBE.

Tony Wilson, of Ledgers Meadow, travelled to Buckingham Palace last month to receive his award from Her Majesty the Queen, accompanied by his wife Mandy and sons Eoin, 16 and Ben, 13.

“It was quite surreal,” said Tony. “I have spent so much of my working life driving past the Palace without ever thinking I’d have the opportunity to go inside, and there we were, walking in through the front gates, with tourists taking photos of us wondering who we were!

“It was a great experience and one we will all remember for a very long time.”

Tony recalled how the honour came as a complete surprise. “I remember sitting on the edge of the bed staring at the letter and wondering who was having a joke at my expense!

“I never thought anything like this would come my way.”

The ceremony took place on 11th November -

Remembrance Day. “We travelled to London the day before and went to see the poppies at the Tower of London, which certainly added significance to the day,” said Tony.

Recipients don’t find out until the morning of the ceremony which member of the Royal family will present the honours, so Tony was delighted to hear that he would be meeting the Queen.

Read full article on page 15.

A classic winter BBQ

By James Gaydon

I’d like to introduce you to Christian Stevenson aka DJ BBQ.

Christian has been a local resident in Cuckfield for 11 years. He was raised in Maryland, America and spent some time in Colorado before moving to the UK. Christian and his wife Naya were looking for a warm friendly community with green surroundings and once they visited Cuckfield they knew they had found the place to plant their roots and make a home for themselves and future Stevensons (there are now three more!).

Sitting in The Talbot with Christian it is clear to see his appeal. With bucket loads of charisma, Christian makes everyone feel like an old friend and a part of what is going on. It is this Stevenson American charm that has made him an obvious ‘face’ to lead the Save The Ship campaign which has hit the local and national news. Christian, Jo Roche and the whole Cuckfield community have been doing all they can to preserve the local amenities and highlight the PR errors made by the Co-op in this latest acquisition. The campaigners did their best, battling to keep the village and its services accessible to all and keep the Co-op where it is. Christian said: “We feel totally cheated; we were lied to. Clearly the Co-op doesn’t care about our community.” Indeed the talk of the pub while I sat with him revolved around this ongoing situation. Everyone I spoke to seems concerned for the future of Cuckfield’s High Street but they are trying to remain positive. 

Christian has always been quite focused on the Cuckfield community and is keen to get stuck in. You might have heard of Christian some years ago when he pushed through the project to build a skatepark (The Bowl) at Whitemans Green. Some local mums had recognised the need for kids to have somewhere to skate and made an appeal in the Parish news requesting further expertise. Christian – a skater/BMX rider and surfer since childhood – had just finished a BAFTA award-winning series called Rad for Channel 5 at the time. Some might say a perfect match! He was happy to step in and pull some strings to make it happen. After some design work, negiotation and some friendly arm-twisting, Christian presented the skatepark that still (seven years later) gets used by 5-50 year olds. I suggested that, in my experience, of skateparks there can sometimes be young troublemakers making the place intimidating. Christian joked saying that problem has never been an issue as the troublemakers don’t like to stray far from fried chicken so tend to stay in Haywards Heath! The facility still looks good as new, despite being used by local skaters both large and small. Apparently the park is occasionally visited by dads who refuse to think they have ‘lost it’ desperately trying to teach their unimpressed seven year old son how an ‘Ollie’ should be done on an antique skateboard... so I am told!

Read full article on pages 12 & 13.

Mayor's election - Cuckfield goes ‘en fete’ as Rob becomes Mayor

By Kate Fleming

Not many villages devote a whole weekend to fundraising, celebration, spectacle and thanksgiving, but Cuckfield does! The White Hart started the three days by hosting The Independent State of Cuckfield’s Mayoral Election on the evening of Friday 17th October. A large white silky marquee had been erected over the car park to accommodate this unique election and provided an ideal setting for the occasion. The purpose of this election is to raise as much money as possible for the village; the candidate with the largest amount is the winner. It was an exciting, lively evening with the marquee bursting with music and laughter from the supporters and friends of the aspiring mayors. After a closely fought contest, Rob Helliwell, landlord of The Wheatsheaf public house in Broad Street, having raised an impressive £4,080 won the coveted ermine trimmed triangular hat along with the red velvet robes and was proclaimed Mayor. Overall, with significant contributions from the other candidates, there will be a substantial £6,292 to distribute to local charities and organisations.

Read full article on page 18.